Tag Archives: Honolua Bay

The Hawaii Wave Energy Potential

TheHUGHawaii Wave Energy is a game changer. It promises to bring electricity created from ocean wave energy to the ocean shores of Hawaii at a very low cost.

Hawaii would seem a natural site for such technology. As any surfer can tell you, it is blessed with powerful waves. The island state also has the nation’s highest electricity costs—largely because of its heavy reliance on oil delivered by sea—and has a legislative mandate to get 100 percent of its energy from renewables by 2045.

The following images are located along the coast of Hawaii wherever there is a natural small bay. This type of topography reduces the cost of the reservoir.

Now enter a new use which is more profitable: the creation of electricity. Now it makes sense to spend over $25 million on the project because of a very lucrative return on investments: 19%/year in first year to 105%/year thereafter.

HUG Slab Wave

A slab is a piece of reef that sticks out in deep water or deep water sits behind it. Most slabs break in the same spot. In the figure below, the HUGslab wave, 1, moves fast and hits a shallow reef, 4, at full speed. It lifts out of nowhere within seconds. HUG Slab waves are heavy reef breaks coming out of deep water and breaking in very shallow water. As a thick lip unloads on a shelf, the water doesn’t have anywhere to go but upwards overtoppinginto a reservoir with all their open-ocean energy intact. That energy gets focused as the depth suddenly decreases.

The velocity of the speed at which a wave travels in winter: period is every 7 seconds for a velocity of 7.6 m/sec(25 ft/sec).

The average height is normally 3m to 4m (10 ft to 13 ft). The slab wave increases by 250%: 7.5 m to 10 m

The individual waves break when their wave height H is larger than 0.8 times the water depth h: a breaker 2 m high would occur in water 2.4 m deep.

Wave heights are amplified in the region of shallower water. At the wave period of 7 seconds, the significant wave height is 2 m high at depths of 12 m. The slab wave configuration raises the height to 5 m.